Hero3 Black with Blurfix3 SO and macro filters

[Marty Cerven]

Thanks for being such a font of knowledge with the gopro stuff, Marty. You always have such interesting stuff to say!

I have a hero 2 with a SRP dome filter. Is there any way you can think of to be able to use this for macro? I'd love to be able to get closer to small stuff with it but kind of figure I don't have options.

Its possible to do with the Hero2 but not the dive housing in any easy way I know, here is the thread that inspired me to try this on the hero3 from another blurfix user with the hero2 camera. This is using the original blurfix adapter GoProUser.freeforums.org • View topic - Macro video and photos - GPH2 but the main negatives of this approach is that its not a wet filter option unless also using a clear flat lens first then stacking on top of that with your macro filters.

The gopro dive housing is a bit of an awkward shape and the high fov of the lens is the reason why SRP needed to make the large dome to be vignette free and a circular filter would need to go way beyond the power button in order to not show up in the frame. The original gopro housing lens also magnifies the image a little so this helps reduce FOV a little and allows the 55mm filters to still work well with this housing. Without the curved lens these filters are more likely to vignette and the dive housing has no curved lens. You should be able to see the FOV difference of the gopro dive housing and stock housing if you use them both out of the water the dive housing will have more fisheye distortion on the edges of the frame due to its higher fov.

I will run some tests also on the hero2 and blurfix but vignette levels are generally a little higher with this camera and I have also found that the narrow mode works best as it also zooms in on the image and allows multiple filter stacking without vignette. Narrow mode on the hero2 I think is its weakest mode with pretty high noise levels so with a hero2 you would probably want to use medium mode instead. Some macro filters will allow you to still seal the blurfix so if you only want to shoot macro you could stick a +10 filter on it and possibly more before vignetting becomes a problem. Underwater you will get away with more then above and with the 3 black using my 4 macro filters I could stack them all and add a low profile URPro filter to it with no vignette in medium modes. Out of the water the 4 macros dont come into frame but the final urpro filter does. This is the same in wide modes I can use a single +10 on land but underwater I can use a +10 and urpro with no filter showing in the frame.

There is also another more radical option for closer focus on the hero2 and that is by refocusing the lens as in this thread

GoProUser.freeforums.org • View topic - Alternate Underwater focus fix - No Adapter or Flat Lens

What you can do with this method (that will most likely also void the warranty of your camera so beware of that) is refocus it for a different distance and this will do pretty much exactly the same thing as using the macro or close up filters with an advantage of less glass and no matter how short you set the focus it wont effect vignetting like using +20 macro filters or more. You can then use it as a macro camera at what ever distance you set it to using the dive housing and srp dome, you cant change from macro to normal on a dive though as you can only re focus it out of the housing and so unlike using macro filters where you can use these to adjust focus or go back to regular focus your stuck with what you set pre dive. You can also set it so that you can dive with a stock housing but then you would still have the issue of needing a filter option or you could just use some good video lights as they will work quite well with macro at deeper levels.

 

[toozler]

Great video Marty!

I once considered having a piece of acrylic laser cut to serve as filter holder on the gopro dive housing. Basically something that sits on top of the lens held with elastics and that I could hold a filter tight with 4 screws.

Macro filters are cheap on eBay, a set of 4 (+10, +4, +2 and +1) in very large diameter, 77mm or 72mm, goes for about USD 16. I might give it a try!

 

[Marty Cerven]

Great video Marty!

I once considered having a piece of acrylic laser cut to serve as filter holder on the gopro dive housing. Basically something that sits on top of the lens held with elastics and that I could hold a filter tight with 4 screws.

Macro filters are cheap on eBay, a set of 4 (+10, +4, +2 and +1) in very large diameter, 77mm or 72mm, goes for about USD 16. I might give it a try!

That would be similar to what my first tests were with except I am using the Blurfix3 which is very good for this at 55mm and there will be a 58mm version later. The Blurfix3 SO is selling for $32 naked so I think thats a pretty fair price and its much more versatile then all the other filter options for earlier gopro cameras.

I paid about $20 for the macro filters plus I got them express posted as I wanted them by last weekend lol. I have a few others to test in the next week or 2 including a +20 filter and some better quality filters to see if they give a much better image over the cheaper ones I used. From what I have seen using other filters the cheapest arent always the greatest so I got the cheap ones first just to test the concept and will get better onese to see if they improve the image much over the cheap ones. Main thing is the +10 I have has pretty bad distoriton in the edges in wide modes though it has no vignette still, but narrow mode does work best for the macro anyway as you also get a more zoomed in shot that works great with these filters and pretty much avoids any edge issues in the wide modes. The cheap filters are also showing some chromatic aberrations on land but these weren't noticeable underwater and overall I was impressed by the results even with the cheap option.

The lower powered ones arent really all that useful and I think 2x +20 will be easier and less filters to stack gives you less work underwater. They need to be assembled underwater to avoid bubbles because if you put it together above the water and drop in most of the air will remain trapped between lenses.

This is why a +20 may be a good option for getting in very close. A single +10 is pretty good as it gets you in fairly close but has a longer focus range of around 10cm and the +17 have about 3cm to work with.

I just stacked them all as it gets you in much closer at +17 then just +10 but 2x +10 will work better most likely and use 2 less filters so less hassle. A single +20 would be even easier to use but not sure about vignetting with that one as it looks a little different.

Here is the Vimeo version of the Flinders video, all exactly the same but should be better quality and the original 20Mb/s encoded file is available for download if anyone wants to see the quality before the online re-encoding.

[video=vimeo;54770036]https://vimeo.com/54770036[/video]

 

[toozler]

I'm also considering that the narrower field of view using the macro filters will benefit the use of not-so-wide lights.

 

[Marty Cerven]

I'm also considering that the narrower field of view using the macro filters will benefit the use of not-so-wide lights.

You will likely get away with one wide video light using macro filters and a narrower FOV but you still want a pretty wide light with a soft beam drop off to avoid the harsh hotspot of narrower lights. Also as you are very close to the subject you need a very wide beam to cover it, a regular dive light shooting something 5cm away isn't going to light too much of it only a tiny circle not much bigger then the size of the torches lens.

Shooting close up objects does make less powerful lights more effective as you dont need it to project light too far away which is the main advantage of more lumens.

---------- Post added December 5th, 2012 at 11:14 PM ----------

Here is a little video showing the setup with the macro filters and also a minimum focus test on land with no filters and different macro filter combinations.

[video=youtube_share;bDAopwmGXmk]http://youtu.be/bDAopwmGXmk[/video]

I also tried out the Macro set on the hero2 with a blurfix housing and it works quite well too, I could stack all 4 filters in medium mode vignette free on both the hero2 and 3 black cameras. The 2 cant be used as a wet lens and I haven't tried to see if my filters and o-ring will be able to work underwater with this setup using the HD2.

The intro shots showing the hero3 housing and camera are shot with a hero2 in 1080p30 medium, the first shot and preview pic are with it and the +1+2+4 filters stacked.

 

[Mantra]

Its possible to do with the Hero2 but not the dive housing in any easy way I know, here is the thread that inspired me to try this on the hero3 from another blurfix user with the hero2 camera. This is using the original blurfix adapter GoProUser.freeforums.org • View topic - Macro video and photos - GPH2 but the main negatives of this approach is that its not a wet filter option unless also using a clear flat lens first then stacking on top of that with your macro filters.
What you can do with this method (that will most likely also void the warranty of your camera so beware of that) is refocus it for a different distance and this will do pretty much exactly the same thing as using the macro or close up filters with an advantage of less glass and no matter how short you set the focus it wont effect vignetting like using +20 macro filters or more. You can then use it as a macro camera at what ever distance you set it to using the dive housing and srp dome, you cant change from macro to normal on a dive though as you can only re focus it out of the housing and so unlike using macro filters where you can use these to adjust focus or go back to regular focus your stuck with what you set pre dive. You can also set it so that you can dive with a stock housing but then you would still have the issue of needing a filter option or you could just use some good video lights as they will work quite well with macro at deeper levels.

Thank you heaps for all the time and energy you put into that reply! Hmmmm. . . if I end up buying a hero 3, I might indeed tinker with refocusing the lens. That's the kind of project I would enjoy having a go at. Thank you!

 

[RockyHeap]

Once again, Marty is in the lead forging new grounds.

Macro is the one weak area of the GoPro, and your lens work and experimentation is awesome.

Mate, you rock and are a GoPro GOD

Cheers and THANKS from the rest of us mere mortals.

 

[toozler]

Those filters do wonders in reducing the minimum focal length, but there isn't much of a "zoom" effect. I was just watching the 2" mark and how close it got the camera plane as you stacked them. I guess it won't help much to zoom in into a wide light beam (that is not wide enough for the wide FOV of the GoPro) as I thought it would.

Can you stack +10+10 (if you had them)? And keep stacking +10 until it looks like this?

 

[ronscuba]

Nice work with the diopters Marty. As others have said, macro is the GoPro weakness. It's the super wide angle lens and lack of zoom that limits it. For real good macro video you need zoom. Most subjects are not going to stay still with a camera lens stuck in it's face. Macro video is super tough no matter what equipment or camera you have.

I am going back to Belize in Jan. It will be interesting to compare how my GoPro 3 Black does against what I shot with my Gates FX7 5 years ago.

 

[Knackas]

Great stuff Marty you certainly picked a good day for Flinders Pier. The purple fish is an Ornate Cowfish (Aracana ornata) and is found in Port Philip Bay and obviously at Flinders Pier.